June 11, 2025
Congratulations to students and postdocs on a productive academic year! Join us in celebrating these career steps.
Graduation
Congratulations to CREATE member Anant Mittal, a newly minted Ph.D., for completing his program and successfully defending his thesis! During his program, Mittal, advised by James Fogarty, worked on the design and development of Jod, a videoconferencing platform to facilitate communication in mixed hearing groups. Mittal’s final thesis focused on designing, implementing, and examining systems for communication, collaboration, and coordination in complex settings, such as interactions among people with and without disabilities and patients with chronic conditions collaborating with providers for care.
Postdocs on the move
Congratulations to these postdoctoral researchers as they embark on the next steps in their careers!
Dr. Tamanna Motahar has been appointed to the position of Patrick Clark Endowed Assistant Professor in the School of Computing and Informatics at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She expresses deep gratitude to her fellow CREATE postdocs and her mentors, Maya Cakmak, Heather Feldner, and Jennifer Mankoff, for their guidance, mentorship, and support during her postdoctoral fellowship and during the job search.
Dr. Kelly Avery Mack, a former CREATE Ph.D. student, will continue with their accessibility research as an Apple AI/ML Resident this summer. Mack told CREATE, “I appreciate the connections with community partners that CREATE fosters and encourages me to be a part of.”
Dr. Anthony Osuna is moving on to the position of Acting Assistant Professor in the UW Department of Pediatrics. He’ll be based at Seattle Children’s Research Institute in the Center for Child Health, Behavior, and Development, where he will launch a research lab focused on digital health equity for people with autism and intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). His work will center on developing and evaluating internet safety and digital literacy interventions, and exploring how generative AI and assistive technologies can be used to promote inclusion and health equity for people with IDD.
We equally celebrate that Stacy Hsueh, Jazette Johnson, and Bethany M. Sloane will continue as postdoctoral researchers with CREATE. Emma J. McDonnell will also continue as a participating CREATE postdoc, with a primary appointment in UW Medicine as a National Library of Medicine Postdoctoral Fellow in Biomedical Informatics and Medical Education.